March is women’s history month…spread the word! As not only Time Magazine’s dealer of the year in 2016, our March cover woman, Kitty Van Bortel is a powerhouse in a prominently male dominated field.. With Van Bortel Subaru, Van Bortel Ford and Van Bortel Chevrolet, Kitty owns and operates not only one of the top selling Subaru dealerships in the nation, but a powerful group of dealerships taking over the Rochester marketplace. Kitty is more than a smart, successful business owner. She is also a well-recognized role model for businesswomen in the greater Rochester area and throughout the nation. Read all about her on pg [ 12].
Kelly Breuer, Publisher
As the premier resource for Rochester women, Rochester Woman Online stands in solidarity with those on the front line standing up for us all. In the United States, Women’s History Month traces its beginnings back to the first International Women’s Day in 1911. Organizations like PlannedParenthood and the New York Civil Liberties Union should be honored and celebrated for all that they stand for in preserving our fundemntal constitutional rights. The womens march held here is Rochester in February, was democracy at its fullest. Rochester Woman was proud to walk next to our sisters and you can read all about the women’s march in our Law and Hip Hop column on page [82]. Plus, you don’t want to miss our special feature on Planned Parenthood and their local obstacles that we as women have to fight for on pg [46].
In honor of women’s history month, we want to honor the extraordinary achievements of some incredible Rochester women. You can read one amazing story of Estelle O’Connell on pg[ 76 ], whose parents were murdered by a serial killer, or Debbie McQ who starts off our new monthly column called What If with her courageous and empowering story of life on pg [182 ]. Honestly, there are just so many incredible articles and features in this issue, that I am sure you won’t want to stop reading the over 190 pages we are bringing to you this month.
Come and join us on March 12th for another Day of Empowering Women…A Little Women’s History event from 12-5pm at the Century Club of Rochester where you can enjoy the ultimate ladies day out with over 70+ vendors, free services and products, sampling and incredible grand prize drawings! Bring all your friends and get extra tickets to win.
Kelly
